Shrink Wrapping Cells in a Defined Extracellular Matrix to Modulate the Chemo-Mechanical Microenvironment.

ABSTRACT: Cell-matrix interactions are important for the physical integration of cells into tissues and the function of insoluble, mechanosensitive signaling networks. Studying these interactions in vitro can be difficult because the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins that adsorb to in vitro cell culture surfaces do not fully recapitulate the ECM-dense basement membranes to which cells such as cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells adhere to in vivo. Towards addressing this limitation, we have developed a surface-initiated assembly process to engineer ECM proteins into nanostructured, microscale sheets that can be shrink wrapped around single cells and small cell ensembles to provide a functional and instructive matrix niche. Unlike current cell encapsulation technology using alg

SUBMITTER: Palchesko RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4266992 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature